Open World: Level Up

“Good morning my tiny pony.” Tina said as I woke up, still sleepy. Everything in the last few years was… interesting. I’m four now, and technically I’m now the ‘King’ of my own kingdom. Formerly the New Foundation, but after Romero and Holly killed O5-2 through O5-12, and now I’m the ruler of what is called the Foundation Kingdom.

My bedroom lights came on. Still kid themed because fuck it I’m gonna enjoy this new childhood damn it and frankly It’s been fun aside my occasional paperwork.

“Morning.” I said warmly. “So, what’s on today’s agenda?”

“Right now, breakfast.” Tina smirked as she picked me up. “From there, nothing much. Heh, you have no idea how much Alchem, Hero and Heather envy you not doing as much paperwork as them.” Tina chuckled.

I rubbed my eyes and saw she was wearing that Maid outfit again. I chuckled. While she’s my mother her official title is my personal Nanny/Maid. While Tony tried to talk her into something else, she insisted simply because she loves being my mom and she really likes the outfit.

Helps I had Scotch, our shared royal crafter, turn it into some pretty decent armor.

“That is very true, and I’m lucky for not having to do anything.” I chuckled.

“Well not nothing. You still need to spend time with your kids, plus with Micheal and Gallon’s anniversary coming up you should think about getting those two a gift.” Tina reminded.

“Yeah, I really should get those two a gift.” I admitted. “What do you think they would both like?”

“Something they’d both like? Hmm… knowing them, maybe some supplies or for Micheal, the location of a dungeon that’s ancient ruins themed?”

“Well, given that each of us have access to a lot of the 05 info due to the massive amounts of murder I’m sure there’s… well, actually ! I think I have a better idea, what’s Hero doing?” I asked.

“Working like hell on the Nexus Rehab center.”

“Well… shit, I was going to ask him for some help getting a Hunter Shadow Tree going and basically give Micheal the best tour guide to some ancient ruins he could ever get.” I admitted. “We were going to need to restart that whole thing up anyways, why not also throw in that bit?”

“That can work. We can send them a message to see what happens.” Tina nodded.

We ate breakfast and I decided to stop by my office real quick… where I saw Micheal breathing rapidly into a paper bag and Gallon trying to console him.

“Ah, there you are… we might have a… situation.” Gallon said.

The bag Micheal was breathing into burst. “It’s fucking horrible!” He countered.

“What the hell happened this time !?” I asked incredulously.

Gallon looked at Micheal, rubbing his back for a bit before taking something out of his Assistant. It was a letter, already opened but the wax seal on it had the Nexus Symbol on it.

I immediately took it with my magic and read.

[Congratulations! You, Gallon, have been selected for the Nexus Private Tournament! Your Participant number is 25. We look forward to your battle!]

…

“Do… do they expect me to fight as a toddler?” I asked weakly.

“The invitation is for me, Button… just… me.” Gallon said.

I reread the invite… oh… oh…

“That’s… that’s not good.” I said carefully. “Why did they pick you?”

“I don’t know. Doesn’t say.” Gallon sighed. “It just was directly sent to my Assistant… Got the notification this morning…”

“We should contact the other’s, see who else got it.” I said immediately. “Cause there’s anyone else on our side, then you won’t be fighting alone technically.”

“I sent word to Holy already. I’ll let you know when she gets back.”

“Alright, let’s hope she comes back quick with the info.” I admitted.

“Meanwhile I’ll work on keeping Micheal from having a heart attack…” Gallon said, quickly grabbing Micheal by the arms and helping him up.

They walked out and I can… only imagine how Micheal is feeling…

“... Shit.” I groaned. “This was…not something I expected today.”

“Guess this means the Chaos Guild games David told us about is starting. Nexus starting off is oddly fitting.”

“Yeah, it’s fitting but this is still rather sudden.” I admitted.

“Maybe, but guess there’s no point in wondering about it. We have been training for this event, and while Gallon being selected for this game is unexpected, we can at least make sure he’s fully prepared. Stats wise he’s probably unmatched. So we just need to ensure his gear and weapons are the best there will be.”

“I’m gonna have to give Scotch a Call and see what new nonsense he can cook up with Heather’s entire fleet of crafters.” I said, cause ever since this union and us all sharing things, Scotch acted like a kid in a candy store knowing he had an entire group of like minded individuals that could help him on the harder crafting items.

With that I went about my day. Not much I can do regarding this turn of events except make sure that Gallon has everything he’ll need.

I send out some orders to produce the best ammo and to see if they can reinforce Gallon’s guns and produce new stronger ones. All with Core Stones to ensure they’re as strong as they can be.

WIth that I was brought to Jada’s room. My little girl was 14. Not so little anymore and going through puberty, which for Naga species involves lots of growth… and hunger pains.

I knocked on Jada’s door. “You in here Jada?”

“Yeah.” She called as I used magic to open the door. She’s changed. Longer, tail wise, taller, upper half wise. She’s… maturing. Training bra and her hair has grown out longer and sometimes there’s flowers growing out of it. She was coiled up playing a Ponystation console. “Hey dad.”

“How you doing?” I inquired, floating into the room and closing the door behind me.

“Pretty good. Just pigging out then lazing around cause puberty sucks.” She sighed.

“Oh trust me, it’s going to be a nightmare for me going through puberty again.” I sighed. “But at least you won’t be accidentally starting eruptions out of nowhere.”

“Yeah I’ll just get massive hunger pains and urges to eat anything smaller than me…” She frowned.

“And I am most definitely not on that menu.” I stated. “But you’ll have all the food you need Jada.”

“Thanks. Just sucks how much I have to eat just to curb my cravings.” She frowned. “So, you wanna game or just checking in?”

“I can game as well, just mostly waiting on certain thing’s for work.” I sighed.

“Alright.” Jada nodded.

I got up onto a small chair and levitated the player two controller and played with Jada. Some hours passed of me just enjoying the game until she paused, getting up and heading to the nearby built-in kitchen and began scarfing food down.

“Must be rough needing to scarf thing’s down that much.” I said. “Maybe there’s some other food that might help the cravings?” I asked, thinking there might be certain Ranks of Food that might help her more.

“Maybe,” She said, mouth half full before she swallowed. “But for now it’s I either eat everything in my fridge at the time or risk eating someone else. Ech.” Jada huffed as she then began to shove a whole rolled pizza in her mouth.

“Yes, let’s not have another bout of that accident.” I shuddered.

“Tulip warned you in advance she was eating and working at the same time. Don’t be mad she mistook you for her snacks while she was busy.”

“Yeah…” I sighed. “Hmm… now that I’m thinking about it…” I scratched my chin, thinking about all those Core Crystal’s and how they work… though I might need the Advanced Core Crystal’s like in Shield Hero from what I’ve read during my time in baby mode.

Jada ate up her fill before slithering back over, picking up her controller and coiling up again. “Alright, so that aside what else is there to finish this game up…” She mumbled as she unpaused it.

“I think it’s in the dungeon we were told about two towns earlier?”

“Right. Why do all these Equestrian Games have the Princesses in some caliber? Seriously, you sure they weren't deified back in your reality?”

“I mean, at this point I’m pretty sure they were divine in some capacity.” I said honestly. “And why were they always in some capacity? Blame Luna, she was a turbo gamer, even worse than me half the time when we were always finalists in tournaments.”

“Amazed you never looked for a Luna to game and fuck.”

“I mean… maybe sooner or later.” I shrugged. “I’m not that horny.”

“Pfft. Sure dad. That’s totally true…”

“How dare you think I’m more horny than I am.” I huffed.

“Mamma Cheat tells a different story.” Jada snickered.

Betrayal!

“Why must I be betrayed like this?” I whined.

“Because you make it easy. Besides, everyone is making bets on when you turn eighteen how long you’ll be spending with the moms in private for. My money is on a week straight.”

“Why must I be tortured like this?” I groaned.

The game went on for a few more hours, Jada pausing again for another meal break. Yikes. I know the doctors said this is normal for her species, but still. Is she even digesting all that?

“By the way, are you even digesting the food you eat?” I asked, cause there’s no way in hell her stomach is processing all that food that fast.

“Yeah. Does’t help my Fea biology is making it faster.” She grumbled. “Everything I eat, so does my hair and the leaf scales along my body. Something about building up and absorbing fat and nutrients for major growth spurts?”

“Hmm… I wonder.” I frowned, deciding to pluck a feather. “I know this sounds weird, but try eating one of my feather’s.” I said, though this might be a bad thing as it could end up with her exploding… I want to test a thing.

“You sure about that?” She said, looking at me with a raised brow. “I’d rather not end up like Tony who exploded when he ate part of Romero…”

“Firstly, Tony ate Romero’s arm, and two, that was also because Romero’s DNA weirdly has the Nokori Fusion Process, mine doesn’t and I’m sure you're strong enough to eat a volcano, not a galaxy.” I said. “Certainly eat a volcano’s weight that’s for sure.”

“Maybe but Alex did that to you too, so who knows if you’re cells do or don’t… is… it wrong that I kind of miss him?” Jada asked. “I know he’s a crazy evil bad guy and all but… he was a pretty good doctor, every question I had he had a simple answer I understood…”

“From what I have been told and my own personal experience, he is an apathetic, glory hounding psychopath that will use and abuse anyone and anything he can get his grubby little hands on because he cares about his work that much .” I sighed. “Probably the only thing he does or can care about…”

“I know that… doesn’t make it harder to accept that someone I admired was actually that evil.”

“It should be easier to accept considering how cartoonishly evil Alex is.” I admitted. “ ESPECIALLY given he literally turned you into a Nokori Bomb.” I said, knowing that she did care and respect him but… there’s only so much you can accept before it becomes to fucking much.

“You don’t have to remind me…” Jada huffed.

“I know… I’m sorry.” I sighed. “I’m just… so tired…”

“So much of your life keep’s being stripped away because of thing’s outside your control, yes we know .” Jada rolled her eyes.

“It’s still a massive problem… not just for me but everyone I know.”

“... Back when I was growing up, when you were gone… Alex was the first person I talked to about my problems… he listened… he’d patch me up without moms knowing…” Jada admitted. “I… guess I just latched onto him… at the time there wasn’t a male role model in my life or… equivalent figure… Just felt like he’d always be there.”

“I understand…” I sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Still not eating your feather. I like not blowing up… or melting… or whatever that might do.”

“Alright alright.” I said, putting the feather away. “Just want to help alleviate your pain in some way…”

“I can deal with it. Just an annoying thing I’ll have to deal with on and off until I’m twenty.”

“Alright.” I said honestly.

The next few months were rather anxiety inducing. Tina was selected to participate in the Public Nexus Games, and it was… awesome. She and Shift did this crazy combo and absolutely mopped the floor with everyone there. They also gained a lot of valuable info on the Chaos Guilds from a shared ability thanks to Shift’s biology.

The private games were coming up and apparently the participants were allowed to bring two guests. Gallon is taking Micheal, obviously, and me.

Gallon was given everything he hopefully needed and the day finally came.

The teleportation came as a surprise, Micheal, Gallon and I were surprised by a teleportation and appeared in a much smaller arena.

Wrathful John sat in a throne above the arena, looking down at everyone. Guests seemed to be all split up so it was just Micheal and I up here in the view box.

“I still feel like I’m gonna be sick…” Micheal said.

“Just relax Micheal, nothing bad is going to happen.” I said carefully, staring up at the Wrathful prick.

Wrathful John took a small microphone off his throne and began to speak. “Greetings, participants. Today, the proper Chaos Guild Games begin. There are one hundred participants. Each person invited here, I personally invited.” He spoke up. “Some of you, I took interest in, others, submissions. Recommendations from… influential factions. Either way, you gained your entry because I approved it. Your participant numbers shall be randomly drawn to determine who you are matched with. Remember, this is to the death. There is a special Anchor in place that once you die, your soul will manifest above your corpse. From there… your fate will lie with your opponent. Whether they keep it, destroy it, or set it free is all up to them.”

Fuck…

“Alright… so that kinda throw’s a mighty wrench into our plans.” I said carefully.

Micheal started hyperventilating.

I am very bad at soothing people…

“Match one! Number Fourteen and sixty two!” Wrathful John declared.

Instantly, two people appeared in the arena. One was what looked like an angel, halo, wings, all that, wearing some all golden full body armor. The other was some racoon girl.

The angel didn’t even give them a chance to draw a weapon before they were up to them, hand tearing through her torso and dropping the body. An orb of light appearing over the corpse. They grabbed it, and crushed it without hesitation.

Oh…

“... The actual fuck…”

“Sixty Two wins!” Wrathful Job said, the armored Angel vanishing as the body seemed to be eaten away by some energy that flowed over the arena for a moment. “Next match! Five and Twelve.”

That fast!

“Not even a moment to breathe after some jackass just killed someone permanently?” I asked incredulously.

The battles continued. Tony, Jenny and The Saint were on our side, and were sweeping their opponents, but kept their souls. Interrogation for later.

“Next Match! Twenty five and Sixty Two.” Wrathful John announced.

“Oh no…” Micheal shook as he paled.

“We’re going to be fine.” I said carefully. “Gallon is going to make it, I promise.”

“I hope…” I thought as we watched Gallon and that Angel appear on the arena. Gallon already with a gun ready as the Angel seemed to just stand there.

To my surprise, they pulled their helmet off, tossing it. They were human, an older looking man. Rather gruff with a balding head and a face that time was not kind to.

Gallon and Micheal gasped.

“Who is it?” I asked quickly.

“That’s… Gallon’s dad.” Micheal said.

… Oh no… everything I have been told about Gallon’s parents tells me he’s a raging racist asshole!

AND HE’S BALDING!

Micheal quickly pulled up the smaller zoomed in screen TV to hear them.

“Gideon.” The man spoke.

“That’s not my name.” Gallon growled.

“It’s what your mother and I gave you.”

“And I threw it away the same way you two threw me away.”

“Agh. Figures. Still a pathetic fag loving dissappointment.”

“Married actually. My husband is watching.” Gallon stated.

“Then he can watch me take you back. God gave me this power, and he can fix you once I rip your soul out of that demonic body.”

“No thanks. I like my fluffy self, and so does my husband.” Gallon said, smirking as they pulled the hammer back on their gun. “Don’t go thinking anything you want for me is right or some mercy…”

“Let’s hope all the gear, stat boosts and skills will help him out…” I said, knowing so extraordinarily well that we were just handed trillions upon trillions of skill points from Heather and Alchem… let’s hope my RPG gamer mind was right in the choices…

I watched as Gallon and his dad seemed to circle each other from across the arena.

His dad then vanished. Gallon ducked, pointing his gun behind him and fired.

His dad was hit, the armor denting inward from the shot before he appeared back where he started. “You little bastard.” He growled.

“Still using the same old moves on me huh?” Gallon huffed. “Yeah, I still remember when you’d slap and punch me from behind.” He then smirked. “Unlike you though, I got new moves and new powers of my own.” He said, taking out… Yes! The Wayfinder!

It glowed in Gallon’s hand before he suddenly grew some ethereal white wings out his back. He then bolted up into the air and took a deep breath, then exhaled.

A raging thunderstorm with Tornados filled the arena instantly.

“That’s my Gallon…” Micheal said, a weak smile but he was still obviously terrified.

“Alright, now that he’s using the Wayfinder, his Soul Bond skill’s going to work!” I said happily, which was a Special Skill if you take it far enough in the Keyblade tree and have such an outrageously great bond with your Soul Mate, which pretty much just increases stats by a shit ton through ‘The Power of Love compels you to kick your enemies asses’ but it’ll hopefully tip the scale more in Gallon’s favor here.

The storm made it hard to see, but Gallon and his dad were going all out. It was a hefty battle, and Micheal was using everything on his dad.

When the storm died, his dad was missing a wing, and his armor was beat to shit.

Gallon looked a little scuffed but had no major injuries.

“You… fuck.” His dad huffed, glaring at Gallon. “You should have been a good boy and died on the streets where you belonged…”

“Ironically, the streets were better than living with you. In the end, I became what and who I am now, and met Micheal.” Gallon said as he raised his gun up. “What was that one lesson you taught me? Mercy is for the weak?” He opened fire, the bullets breaking and piercing his dad’s body. It fell back and up raised that orb. Gallon walked up to his father’s soul. Grabbing it. “Nah. I’ll let you live, but you sure as shit won’t be free.” He said, and his Father’s soul was put into his Assistant storage.

“Oh thank every god…” Micheal breathed.

“Told you it was going to be okay.” I said readily. “I had absolute faith in Gallon.”

The rest of the battles went by thankfully quick. The last four were all our people. At this, Wrathful John stood up. “I see no point to continue, you all clearly are part of the same faction. No point in continuing.” He said, Jenny, Gallon, The Saint and Tony all in the arena as he jumped down into it.

“I don’t like this…” Micheal said.

“Either he’s going to hand them the reward for winning the tournament… or…” I trailed off as my eyes widened. “Oh no…”

“You will get your rewards, but before that…” Wrathful John said, suddenly behind The Saint.

A sickening crack as their head was spun all the way around, the orb raising up as Wrathful John wasted no time shattering it.

I barely had time to register before someone new appeared, slashing a sword at Wrathful John he blocked with an arm. The impact cracked the ground, the view boxes… and blasted Jenny, Tony and Gallon back hard.

The dust cleared and I saw someone with near identical looks to Wrathful John, only green hair and eyes. The sword was cut into the armor, and Wrathful John was bleeding.

“I knew you kept watch over your toys brother…” He smirked, pulling the sword out and pushing the new guy… Junker John… back.

“You just have to break everything I care about…” Junker John growled.

“Only way I knew you’d show yourself. You are needed. You, Mad, me. We all have a purpose to fulfill.”

“Yeah I don’t like this one bit.” I said quickly. “What… what the hell is going on?”

“Junker! Get out of here!” I heard Alchem and Hero call out, probably because the two of them knew who the hell he was and what was actually going on between the two.

Junker turned, likely facing them and smirked. “Sorry guys… I’m done running.” He said, dodging a blast from Wrathful. Code then flowed across him and he and Wrathful fought…

I watched what I can only truly describe as God's battle…

In the end, despite being an Admin, Junker John was knocked down. Wrathful ripping Junker’s sleeve off… revealing an identical King Chess Piece. Identical to Wrathful Johns. “We have our roles brother… we’re finally going to fulfill them.” He said, snapping his fingers and suddenly Gallon, Micheal and I were back home.

“Gallon!” Micheal yelped as he hugged his husband.

“I’m alright. Little shaken but I’m alright…” Gallon said, hugging Micheal back.

“I had the utmost faith in you, but we have very bigger issues that I need to see.” I said, floating up and off quickly to the ‘Royal Meeting Room’ to discuss a bunch of shit with the others.

It took a moment but Alchem, Heather, Hero and I were now all in our Royal Meeting Room. Arguably the most secure room that exists simultaneously in all our kingdoms.

“So… can someone tell me who the hell this Junker John was to you two?” Heather asked, looking at Alchem and Hero. “You two called out to him, you know him? Even after that wanted poster he put up at the Public Games you two didn’t say anything?”

“So before… all of this, Junker John was a personal friend of mine, we hung out, did some digging, I even sold him some stuff and he even made some upgrades for Cassidy.” Alchem explained.

“I knew Junker John from mine and The Saint’s first Violence base attack, we rescued Saw but there was also a child that was suffering from very poor Code work, so he fixed the kid and then went off to hide… I didn’t know that he needed to hide for this .” Hero explained.

“Okay, so who the hell are these John’s anyways? They look like Clones just…color coded.” I pointed out.

“That… I can explain.” Heather sighed. “See, there was an old, like OLD legend about a party of Five Isekais that took down a Level Five Void Dungeon, the first ever group to do it cause at the time, Level Five Void was the Dungeon Level to beat as it did Permanent Death, but… to actually see two of the Five here is… is just insanity.”

I blinked. “Damn.”

“I genuinely had no idea he was that John either, hell I didn’t even know he was an Admin.” Alchem explained. “I just thought he was just some Junker that finally wanted to get back to adventuring and having fun now that he had some friends…”

“And by that you mean you adopted an introvert?” Hero asked.

“Not… technically but possibly.” Alchem said sheepishly.

“Well he’s one of Dark Gray’s chess pieces it seems.” Heather sighed. “And now he’s back with his brothers .”

“He mentioned that Mad John was with them, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen or heard the guy.” Alchem said.

“All we know is that there’s Two King’s, Junker and Wrathful John, and the Queen which is Lust David, we still don’t know who the rest are.” Hero said.

“Can’t you figure it out from Taboo?” I inquired.

“Sadly that’s one of the things the Book can’t tell me, either because it was removed because of Dark Gray or it was never there to begin with I don’t know.” Hero sighed.

“So what now?” Heather asked.

“We’ve got to speed things up sadly.” Alchem sighed, leaning back in his chair. “With Junker John, a self made Admin and a pretty damn good one by the sounds of it, on their side, they might want to start making moves against us.”

“That’s if Dark Gray would find it entertaining or not, cause the next Tournament hasn’t been decided for which Guild it’ll be yet.” Hero pointed out.

“What we should be doing, is searching for Clark.” I said, having looked up that name and why they were targeted and found that they were just like Armageddon and Matthew, a Key Holder. “If he has a Key and is currently having the biggest bounty shoved on his head by Nexus themselves, we better find him first before someone strong enough will either kidnap or kill him… and currently they could easily be handed items or weapons that can do the job.”

“Assuming they can.” Hero said. “We have no idea where this Clark or his group is, and based on my own encounter with Pecator, I don’t think Shopkeeper will sit by and let them get into danger they can’t handle.”

“I actually talked to the majority of the kids parents, Mike, Harlow and Apollo.” Alchem said. “Apparently they are in Dying Fire.”

“Which is where I sent the Supernatural Crew off given The Nightmare is right next to it, but that’s still a lot of ground to cover and it’ll be really difficult to find them still.” Hero pointed out.

“It’s been four years though, are they even still there?” Heather asked.

“Last message we got from them before they hit a dead zone was they were almost at Dying Fire, that was a Year ago.” Hero answered. “But thankfully, Custodian shenanigans don’t care about distance, so we’ve made sure they’ve gotten skills and stat points ready for whatever nonsense the area might throw at them.”

“Hm… This is still concerning. Dark Gray knows this kid is part of the In Search of Heaven Quest. Why put a bounty on them like that?”

“For shit’s and giggles?” I suggested.

“Or because John there isn’t too happy that his playground is being fucked with.” Alchem suggested. “Just some mild passive aggressiveness towards Dark Gray, cause while the Chess Pieces can’t do shit, nothing’s to say wayward douche bags looking for Profit can’t.”

“That does make sense…” Heather sighed. “Wrathful John… He used to be considered a great hero back in the day… all five of them… what happened?”

“Maybe… they’re suffering the same fate as Lust David?” I said, seeing the others stare at me. “David… he’s old from what he told me, and he told me… he lost basically everything and there hasn’t been a day gone by that he wishes he couldn’t either have them back or… end himself, what if it’s like the others? Just lost and wanting death but something, or in this case, some one has been keeping it from them?”

“Take in people old, powerful and tired, make them work for you and promise them death… yeah that sounds like something Dark Gray would do…” Alchem sighed. “Wrathful John doesn’t seem tired like Junker John did… he looked interested… odds are he didn’t join that out of desperation… for him it’s likely for fun…”

“Not many people would be strong enough to handle one of the first being’s to take down a Level Five Void Dungeon, so taking the job for a good, proper fight is definitely something.” Heather said.

“It’s why John kept… staring at Tina and Shift during their side of the Tournament.” Hero said carefully. “He was interested .”

“And that’s the scariest bit here…” Alchem sighed.

“Well we know that Mad and Junker John wanted an out, given they ran away, but what about the others?” Heather asked.

“The only thing Junker told me about his brother’s was when he showed up to help me and he said Mad was surprised, SJ was making some over the top Spell, GJ was laughing his ass off… and we know what Wrath is doing and wanted to do.” Hero explained.

“Really sucks how I have to meet an old friend and now suddenly so much of his previous life has rocked our world.” Heather sighed.

“Oh? You also knew Junker?” I inquired.

“Yeah, back before Candlelight even happened, me and Casey met Junker ten years ago, sometimes gave him some junk we scrounged up during dungeon runs but other than that just were on friendly terms.” Heather explained.

“Still really weird to think that Junker John, an Admin, one of five that took down a Level Five Void Dungeon… died to BONK.” Alchem said.

“I’ve heard that Admins, the really skilled ones, can create fake states that work like the real deal to cover their actual stats? Maybe that’s how?” Heather offered.

“Well… that would make sense.” I admitted.

“How does one become a self ascended Admin anyway?” Hero asked.

“Story goes that Junker John, despite his skills, was the weakest of the Five Brothers. He was, however, the smartest. One day, he was testing something and suddenly, he managed to manipulate code. He became the first and so far only being in reality to ascend to Adminhood without one of the Mother’s Blessings.” Heather said.

“That’s strange…” I frowned.

“Maybe it has something to do with a combination of Stats and Skills?” Hero suggested.

“If that was the case, then wouldn’t Scotch have been acting like the greatest man alive?” Alchem pointed out.

“Wouldn’t be the weirdest thing.” I said honestly.

“Well, guess all that’s left is to get all that info out of the captured souls.” Heather sighed. “Send them to Romero…”

We all nodded… he sure does know how to get information out of a person…

“Still a bit worrying how good Romero is at interrogation…”

“Has to put some of his aggression at learning a clone of him is a God somehow.” Alchem admitted.

“You all forget brother’s past before arriving here.” Hero spoke up. “Nine thousand years of life, and he’s been fighting for most of it. Torture is a skill he picked up to help others. You all know he’s not shy about being the monster in someone else's eyes.”

“Sometimes I’m blinded by his… choices sometimes.” Alchem admitted carefully.

“I guess that’s all for this meeting.” Heather sighed.

“Unless there’s anything else we need to discuss?”

“Nothing I can think of.” Hero sighed.

“We already went over my talk with Apollo, so not much.” Alchem shrugged.

“Well, we at least have a game plan.” I admitted.

Today we have a lot of stuff.

All the information from Tina, Shift and Romero’s work has given us a map. A map of targets, allies, and unknown parties.

Need to assemble teams to recon and handle first contact.

I sorted through papers of people that could be good for these objectives. “Crap… there’s so many things to do…”

At least there’s an upside. New Foundation loved their teams for the MTF agents.

The next several hours I finished this for all the locations I took on for this operation.

At least that’s over…

I got out of my desk and walked on over to-

I entered the livingroom, seeing Micheal and Gallon both sitting on the couch… a rather large egg the size of a torso sat between them.

… Huh…

“Alright… which one of you laid the egg?” I asked.

“Uh… both… I think?” Gallon said.

“I knew that hotel was off…” Micheal said, looking rather red.

“The name was just as bad as all the others, didn’t think it’d be some weird magic thing…”

“... Explain.” I said carefully.

“Okay so with Tulip and Dandelion in the house, Gallon and I have been enjoying… alone time, outside the house.” Micheal started. “No shortage of love hotels so… it was a good set up.”

“With them in school that gives us an opportunity every so many days of the week for some alone time and well…” Gallon said, rubbing his neck. “We went to this new place called Sins of The Flesh and… well the name was as bad as others we’ve been to… so imagine our surprise when after it was done there was an… egg.”

“Well, that is certainly a thing, was there a Lamb or some weird Crown as the symbol for the tavern?”

“There was this weird one eyed snake thing on all the doors?” Gallon offered.

… Wait… do they not know about Cult of The Lamb?

“Alright, so do either of you know what Cult of the Lamb is?” I asked. “And I’m talking a video game, not a literal Lamb cult.”

“Uh, no.” Micheal said.

“I don’t remember any game like that from back home and I’ve been busy catching up with other games, manga and comics so… haven’t gotten to see much new stuff.” Gallon admitted.

“Right, I’d recommend playing it, it is rather fun.” I said honestly. “And that snake is literally a Cult Spell for Sex because one Dev for it joked about ‘if we get X likes, we’ll add Sex’... little did he know he posted this on the internet.” I chuckled.

“Right… but how did… this…” Micheal asked, patting the egg. “Happen?”

“Cultish Demon Magic.” I said honestly. “And… one of you is part bird I think so who knows.”

“I have feathered wings doesn’t make me part bird… Gallon has bat wings, he’s not part bat. The fusion is… weird.” Micheal huffed.

“Guess we have a new baby to look forewards to.” Gallon said, chuckling.

Crack! Crack! Shatter!

The egg hatched right before our eyes. A slightly goop covered blue and black whooled baby with four wings, two white bat wings, two purple feathered wings. A head of brown/gray hair and eyes a swirled mix of purple and yellow.

… They’re so fluffy!

“Turbo Floof!” I cheered.

Micheal picked up the baby. The baby cooed at them. Micheal proceeded to ugly cry. Gallon then held both Micheal and their baby with a warm smile.

I’ll just let those two have some alone time.

Well, three.

Okay so far so good.

I have a free schedule at the moment so what to do… Hm…

I ended up heading to Romero’s bar, it’s more a private hangout for the royals and our families.

I sat in the booth… in a high chair cause I’m still four and fuck this is embaressing… but good food so I’ll suffer.

“Hello Button Mash.” The waitress Trish said as she walked up to me. “The usual?”

“Yeah, the usual.” I nodded. “Also going to need to come up with a new present for Gallon and Micheal now that they are both birth parents.”

“Oh, did they adopt?” Trish asked.

“Well, they had a kid before because of that one quest, but no they both… laid an egg that just hatched not too long ago because of the Sins of the Flesh love hotel.”

“... Huh… Interesting…” Trish hummed.

“Yeah, the baby is turbo floofy and have two of each set of wings their parents have… they're really cute.”

“Hm. Might have to let Zena know about this…” Trish said with a small smirk as she went to give Bigs and them my order.

I sat and waited.

“Hey Button.” I looked up, seeing Tony walk in and take a seat in my booth across from me.

“Hey Tony, how you doing?” I asked.

“Pretty good. Still a bit on edge from that tournament but overall, good.”

“Yeah, that was definitely something with what the bastard did to Saint.” I sighed.

“Yeah… he was Hero’s mentor… been mourning him. Funeral is gonna be soon.”

“Yeah… didn’t know the guy but considering all I’ve heard from both the New Foundation reports and Hero… well, he pretty much was a Saint, even though some of his method’s weren’t as palatable to Hero at first.”

“Gotta do what you gotta do. Sometimes to help people you have to hurt others.” Tony sighed.

“That is sadly true… baby mode is something that is massive proof of it.” I sighed.

“Still can’t believe Tina is your mom-nanny…” Tony sighed. “Even after kicking ass in the public tournament she’s still sticking to that job.”

“She’s been… struggling feels like too kind of a word for what she’s going through.” I sighed. “She wants to be a good mother, and is tired of Fighting… but with the Tournament that just happened and even before… I always kept seeing a spark of adventure, of wanting to do good that she’s scared to take because of…” I trailed off.

“Yeah… yeah I know…” Tony admitted bitterly.

“But we’ll find them, I know we will.” I stated.

“Honestly… I’m worried… I feel guilty. Everyone was… going on and on about my issues and my struggles… and Tina bottled hers up so long and… Hell I didn’t even give her much thought I was so self absorbed in my own shortcomings I neglected my sister…”

“Tina had Five Years of therapy with Lovely and she has had other’s that she did confide in… you constantly tried to confide into people and got kicked in the dick if what Alchem’s told me is true.” I pointed out.

“Doesn’t make it right… We’ve always had each others back on things and… even when we were at our lowest. I didn’t even reach out I just tried to… make excuses…” He sighed. “Please Button, don’t go about justifying me. Especially to me. We’ve all made mistakes, just time to accept we did, own up to it, and work to fix it.”

“That’s the best we can do I suppose.” I said. “Just so much nonsense going around…”

“Definitely so.” Tony huffed. “Been looking into it. Hero’s book said they’re also in Dying Fire. Had them send word to his Supernatural Trio to keep an eye out for bipedal Equines and half Zingore-pony kids… of course, they might not even be kids anymore…”

“I mean, they might still be kids depending.” I said honestly. “I mean, when you got here we didn’t find your family until years after and they didn’t age all that much.”

“... Still just… sucks.” He sighed. “Made progress but sometimes still feels like we’re losing. You’re a child now, Tina’s family has been gone for so long, got mine back and now Dandelion is calling Micheal and Gallon dad as well and… I know mentally she’s still a child but she’s still an adult physically and… so many from my den are having problems with being… not how they were. They accept that Alchem’s ‘den’ and ours are one now but they’re still struggling on the whole… not mixing with each other thing…” Tony sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Just a mess all around…”

“Yes, it’s a massive mess, and everytime we try to fix it in some way it only ends up making it worse…”

“Can’t make progress without things getting messy in some regard.”

“Would help if whatever progress being made wasn’t immediately shat on because of something else.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m a prime fucking example…”

“I dunno. I mean, return to childhood aside, you’re definitely happier. There’s this… light, in your eyes that wasn’t there back before.”

I blinked… huh…

“I doubt it’s anything too special, but my point still stands.” I said. “So much of my life has been trying to make thing’s better or fix things that I’ve screwed up… and then nothing happened or shit got worse.”

“Things have been good now.”

“ Now being the operative word for some other’s…” I said.

“Better than it was… how are the kids?”

“They're all doing good, Jada isn’t having the best of it due to Hunger Pains constantly hurting her damn near every hour.”

“Oof. She had her first period yet? That won’t be fun if she deals with both at the same time. Or do Nagas not really get those?”

“...Uh… has anyone ever gone through that?” I asked, now extremely confused cause I don’t remember anyone going through Heat and the like. “Cause… I was at the age where periods still existed when I became a hermaphrodite and I never experienced it and none of my spouses did either.”

“Did you ever ask them? I know for Equines it’s like a once a year things, for Den Mother’s I know it’s sort of a… constant heat thing, hence why the first few years are the worst for them. Biology sucks. Maybe since you’re part Phoenix or just was getting some regularly it never triggered for you?”

“This was way before I became a phoenix.” I stated. “Hell, even then I never experienced heat or the like, so uh…yeah I don't know.”

“Well, before that, you always had Cheat as your Symbiote? Maybe they repressed it for you?”

… Actually… that would make sense…

“But what about everyone else? It's literally never happened before, and I'm not talking about any synthetics either.” I said, cause I still spent years with my loved ones and that never was the case. “Now I'm concerned and…I don't know how to ask…”

“Maybe ask a doctor or… someone? I know Alchem said they had period cramps their first time turning Hermaphrodite but they took some medicine to stop them.”

Huh… that’s interesting…

Questions for later I guess.

Trish came over with my meal, took Tony’s and the conversation stuck to simple stuff.

With that done I went back home to relax, climbing into my bed and laying down. Need a nap.

“Button holy shit!” Tina yelled as she kicked my door down.

“Language! You're talking to a sweet innocent child.” I tried to joke out of how startled I was at her sudden barging in.

“No time for jokes get your small and fluffy butt up!” She said, picking me up and carrying me out the halls.

Woah. Where’s the fire? Aside me?

“What's going on? Where's the fire all of a sudden?” I asked.

“Surprise! Big! You gotta see!” Tina said as she carried me all the way into the dinning room. TO my surprise all the kids, my partners, everyone was here. She had to walked and push through the crowed until-

“You really can’t fault him. Personally I blame that bitch back home for-”

That voice…

Tina walked up to the table, putting me down. Sitting on the chair was… a mare… with graying hairs and some wrinkles in her muzzle and under her eyes. Her cutie mark was a large pink heart in a diaper. Her coat was an almost cream color with a light brown mane and tail.

She looked down at me, and put a hoof to her mouth. “...Button?” She asked.

… Mom?

“M-Mom?” I asked weakly.

“Oh my… Sweetie you… you’re so tiny.” She said, getting down from the chair and walking up to me. “My… look at you, you haven’t been this small in years…” She said, picking me up. “I… you were so much bigger when you disappeared…” She said, tearing up before pulling me in for a hug. “I thought you were dead… They said someone saw you run into the Everfree and… they only found your hat…”

“I’m… I’m sorry mom, you can’t… really predict when your getting Isekai’d all of a sudden.” I managed, hugging mom… hugging my mom and… and just… crying, crying like an infant who was finally with their mother after so long…

It was a surprise, tearful reunion.

“So, you’ve been here for… over ten, almost twenty years… and all these are… my grandkids. In laws and… she’s your… mom?” Mom asked.

“I took responsibility when he was turned into an infant and I refuse to drop the title.” Tina said.

“And… Pro Go… Always knew you’d look good as a mare.” Mom chuckled at dad.

“Yeah… so, you were Isekai’d too then huh?” Dad asked.

“I guess. Things back home were just… the same. Talks of some diplomatic disputes between the Minotaur and the Zebra but nothing much. I went to bed and woke up in that church place. Gave them some information and they realized… not only was my son here, and apparently the king of this kingdom but my husband I thought went missing… guess you did.” Mom said.

“Spent a long time wallowing when I got here…” Dad sighed.

“Yeah, it was… definitely a time.” I admitted. “So there’s… a lot that’s been going on and I don’t know where to start…”

“I was given a bit of a recap at the Church. Nothing to detailed but I got a summary.” Mom said. “So… should I ask…?” She added, motioning to Cheat and Cheerilee.

“Button’s browser history.” Cheat said with a smirk.

“Oh I saw his magazines.” Mom said with a sigh and an eye roll.

“Mo~m! And Cheat, shut up! You’re not helping!” I whined

“I’m not here to help, I’m here to torment~” Cheat chuckled.

“I came from a Prize Pod.” Cheerilee said.

“I’m a porn tag.” Cheat said proudly.

“I see…” Mom said.

“Cheat’s a Symbiote, but due to a lot of nonsense that happened she is now her own person and she needs to cease her horny.” I huffed.

“Boo.” Cheat pouted.

“Can’t believe I was alone just a day ago and now I’m here with.. So much family… and my son is a foal again!” Mom said, picking me up and hugging me. “And with my husband and a second mom… this is gonna be interesting.”

“Depends. Wanna get with me and rekindle with your husband?” Tina asked.

“I’d be alright with that. Jet?” Dad asked.

“I figured if this day came it’d be alright.” Jet nodded.

“Alright. Well, this will be fun. And so many grandbabies.” Mom said.

“I’m glad you're excited about all of this mom.” I said warmly, hugging my mom again and just… feeling so happy about this.

“Honestly I’m scared. Feels almost like a dream… scared it is.” Mom admitted.

“It’s not a dream mom.” I said softly.

“And don’t worry, when the time comes, so will you.” Tina teased.

“Tina please, that’s my mom!” I whined.

“And? I’m your mom so what’s wrong with mom on mom?”

“I wanted less horny in front of mom~!” I groaned.

“Oh Button if you only knew what your father and I did. Had he not ended up here you’d probably be the oldest to… five, seven siblings.” Mom admitted.

“Good times.” Dad said with a happy sigh.

AHHH!!

“O~kay! I’m out.” I said, floating out of mom’s hold and away from this situation. “I’m not listening to anymore of this.”

“No! You’ve been gone for three years back home! I need more hugs!” Mom said, grabbing me out of the air.

Wait… only three years?

I blinked. “Only three years? Really?”

“Yeah. Lot happened though… wanna hear about it?”

“Uh, sure. What happened in those three years?” I asked.

“Well, remember that bitch Sweetie Belle?” Mom asked. “Broke up with Spike. Works at Hayburger.”

“Really? What made her stop her singing career? And let me guess, did Spike go after Gabby or Ember?”

“... I… blamed her for… you being gone… Spike moved to Canterlot after a while and… I guess she did feel guilty for… breaking your heart. Think she did blame herself for you… running into the Everfree too…”

“Oh… oh that’s…” I hissed. “That’s not good… like, sure I can say ‘yeah, screw her’ but I’ve gotten so over that and…hearing she gave up her dreams and lost Spike because of guilt is…rough.”

“Yeah… not gonna lie now that I know you’re fine and happy I feel bad for calling her a manipulative murderous whore…” I stared at mom. “I thought you were dead! There was a funeral and everything!”

“Yeah… I’m… I’m so sorry mom…” I hugged her a little tighter. “You shouldn’t have had to go through all of that…”

“Well, you’re all here and I have a lot to rekindle, catch up on, and apparently a lot to learn.” Mom sighed. She then kissed my forehead. “Oh having you be this little again is the best!”

“I have lots of photos of when he was younger~” Tina said.

“Show me.” Mom said with a grin.

“Nuu~!” I whined.

And so, the following weeks went by. Mom got to know not only my kids, her grandkids, her stepson and began rekindling with Dad… and began something with Tina, she got to know all my partners. She was surprised to know about most of them being the former Breeders, but she was happy that they were all cured and doing well.

The only downside…

“Good morning our little birdie~” Mom and Tina said in a sing-song tone as they both kissed me on the cheeks.

Agh~

“Nuu! This is embarrassing~!”

“We’re your mothers. We have full authority to embarrass you.” Mom said with a smirk… Why does she have to wear a matching outfit with Tina…

“Agreed. Now come along, breakfast is ready and there’s a full schedule.” Tina said.

“Your tutoring starts today~” Mom said.

“Oh fun…” I sighed. “I actually have more important things than school work…”

“No you don’t.” Tina said, booping my muzzle as I sat up. “Your schedule is clear, there are no reports, bills or announcements so it’s time for you to start your advanced education.”

“Ick! Ick and Hiss!”

“Was he like this before?” Tina asked Mom.

“I used to have to pull him by the tail to get ready.” Mom said with a happy sigh in remembrance. “And he somehow tore up a rug doing that. It’s why I had his room floored with hardwood after that.”

“Noted.” Tina nodded.

“Meh… I don’t want to learn, I want to be lazy.” I said.

“Don’t make me spank you mister.” Mom said.

“You most assuredly will not.” I huffed, not really in the mood for learning when… when I just want to spend time with mom even after all these weeks and all my other family…

“I am your mother and I most assuredly will. I know these stats or whatever means it won’t hurt-”

“Button’s stats are actually reset.” Tina said. “So he’ll feel it.”

Traitor!

“Thank you for that. So yes I will spank you, so behave or no video games.” Mom said.

… I really am four again…

“This isn’t fair…” I huffed. “And you’re a traitor…”

“I am your Mother as well so I only look out for your benefit. Now hurry along, you’ve got a lot of schooling ahead of you today.” Tina said.

I grumbled and floated off, not liking this one bit. “And no, my stats weren't all reset…”

“Yes they were.” Tina said.

Traitor…

After breakfast I was taken to a room with a school desk, perfect for my height so it was likely custom built.

I groaned as I sat in it. My tutor came in. He was human, fairly young and… wait haven't I seen this guy before?

“Good evening King Button Mash, my name is Dexter Morgan, I will be your teacher and tutor for these lessons.” He introduced.

Oh yeah, this is the guy that gave us the tour of the New Foundation a while back.

“Nice to meet you Dexter.” I nodded. “How are you doing today?”

“I am well. Now then, to start we need to see how much your current education reaches.” He said, pulling out a rather thick packet from his Assistant and putting it on my desk. “This test will tell me the extent of your current knowledge and what needs to be taught and worked on. It's not graded so no need to stress.”

Yay… test right off the bat…

I felt my head smack the desk as I groaned. “Ugh…fine…” I grumbled, starting my stupid test..

I spent two full hours working on this thing. Once I finished Dexter took it and checked my answers. “Hmm. Decent language and math understanding, history needs work, science too. A good understanding of magic but nothing above the average.”

“Average… yeah that checks out.” I shrugged.

“Let's start with a review on math and then work from there.”

I groaned internally as Dexter began the lesson.

The next six hours were spent reviewing math I knew and introducing a few new things. Once that was done I was taken to dinner then went to bed, trying not to think about numbers.

The next day, review of grammar, spelling and punctuation. Day after that, a very in-depth history lesson. Day after that, Science lessons. Day after that, Magic. Day after that, back to math.

Day after that, some ruling matters. A few new bills and reports. Then shorter lesson on Grammar for the day.

This became a routine for me, despite being simple it was a bit annoying but at least I was going through the lessons at a good pace. For the most part, I was doing alright. At least I didn't get homework.

“Ugh… tedious bull…” I grumbled, scratching my head bitterly.y.

Well, at least it's simple.